The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1887-01-22
HE'S HIS OWN GRANDFATHER.
Wildly Mixed Marriage Relationships that
Prevail in Delaware.

An old 81 elton of the Country Where Fam
lilies Have internarried for More than u
Century--A Man WhoIs His own Broth
er-in-Law and n Mother Who Is tho Aunt
of Her Daughter-S"me Puzzles.
WILMINGToN Del. Jan, 15-The spec.
tacIe OF a mau who is his own grand
father Is rare. but when this man is also
his own brother in-law he becomes very
interesting example of the eccentricities
that may be developed in family relation
ships. That human being can get into
such paradoxical relation to his own
family appears singular to people who
have never lived in the Peninsula and
who know nothing of the habits of the
inhabitants of that long settled and hig bly,
respectable tract of country lying be-
tween the Delaware and the Chesapeake
bays
The jewellers i'll this shock shaped coun-
try have intermarried among themselves
to much greater extent than have tho
people in any of the New England States.
Delaware and the eastern shore of Mary
land have contributed less to westward
emigration than any other States. An
infinitesimal proportion Of the natives of
the peninsula have gone to nearby cities
to seek their fortunes; the great remain
der live and die where they were born.
Curious Instances of the results of pro.
tracted intermarrages are constantly
coming up.
The most striking example is furnished
by respectable family of farmers, bear
ing the old name of Smith, living near
Barnard's Wharf, on tie road leading to
Cambridge. Barnard's Wharf is stop
ping place for the Ericsson propelleIs
that ply between Baltimore and Phila-
delphia, through the Delaware and Ches-
apeake Canal. The present head of the
family, Mark Smith is the father of
half-dozen of boys. Mark Smith, his
father, Jonathan Smith, who came from
England, and Mark Smith sons, Tedrick
and Samuel, all married sisters. The
women were the daughters of Geo. Hurl-
but, who formerly lived near Barnard's
Wharf, but who now resides near Ches-
tertown, on the road to Colchester Beach.
Mark Smiths wife died ten years ago,
leaving no children. Mark then married
his fathers widow. She had been his
fathers second wife, and was only Marks
stepmother. She had a daughter by VIM.
l.. Tilghman. After she had borne Smith
chila he was divorced from her, where
upon she Was welded to Hurbut. To
further complicate matters, Samuel
Smiths wife died and he married Thigh
mans sister, who was sister to Hurl-
butts wife. The climax was reached
when Tedrick Smiths son, Jonathan,
married the daughter that his grand
fathers wife had previously borne by
William L. Tilghman. Was there ever
more mixed up family?
The most conspicuous instance, socially
of a long series of intermarriages ID that
of the great powder manufacturers, the
Du Pont de Nemours family. This fam
lily, of Husuenot extraction, has been
settled in and around Wilmington Tor
generations. collectively the Du Pont
de Nemours family owns 100000. 900
worth of property. Much of these vast
possessions are held in com mon, and upon
the death of member what he used as
his share Is divided up among the rest.
the Du Points are Gloss corporation.
Rarely have they ever gone further away
from the blood than a cousin for a wife,
and the Du Pont strain is as pure as that
of a Kentucky Thoroughbred. 1t would
take profound thought on the part OF
skilled genealogist to figure out the exact
Du Points bear one to another. Of late
years, however, the young women of the
family have manifested disposition to
90 outside for husbands.
The intermarrying has been carried on
on a systematic scale at the lower end of
the Peninsula. The Dashiell family and
in somerset county, Md, are so
mixed up that their family trees are alb
solutely indecipherable. All three fam
lilies are socially distinguished and have
contributed many men of mark to the
professions. Judge Handy is member
Of the Maryland Court of Appeals, John
II. Handy is a prominent lawyer of Bal
timore, and every Methodist in the coun-
try will remember Rev. DR.. Dashiell, the
late church dedIeator, who was as great
as Chaplain McCabe in his way. The
younger members of the Jones and
Dashiell families are more mixed than
the Handys. There is one of the Dashiells
a lawyer, who is own first cousin, as we'll
as his OWE brother-in-law Another of
the Dashiells is his fathers half brother
while another is his wiie's brother-in -law.
One of the youthful scions of the house
of Jones, who lives in Baltimore, has been
| figured out to be mis- own father. The
advantage of being ones own father will
| be Immediately apparent to every reader.
Another curious case is that of the
| Moore and Bowen families, in Kent
cnunty, by the marriage into both fam
lilies of lady named Rash. She had
two daug hters who were also first cousins.
| How delightful it is to have first cousin
for sister. A thhd daughter of this lad y
| is an aunt to one of her sisters aud a
cousin to the other while her two sis
tiers are aunts as well as cousins to her
| own child This married sister, whose
maiden name was Moore, married her
cousin. She is. therefore, her child
aunt as well as it's mother. Her cousin S
wife was also her cousin.
1t is only in the rural districts, with
the single EXCEPTION OF the Du Pont
family, that this system of intermar
riages has been SO extensively followed.
IN New Castle county, Del, there are
the Rey holds, the great steamboat ow-
ners, who are badly mixed in their rela-
tionships SO much SO that it is said Of